MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peru: Motion to impeach President Sagasti fails forlornly in Parliament

Sagasti's term expires on July 28 and he will hand over the presidency to either Pedro Castillo or Keiko Fujimori

An overwhelming majority of Peru's Parliament Thursday voted in plenum against a motion seeking to oust President Francisco Sagasti.

The motion had been submitted by Congressman César Gonzales. It was supported by 12 votes and rejected by 86 legislators, while another 19 abstained.

The nays considered it highly inopportune as the country is heading for a presidential runoff in less than a month between Pedro Castillo and Keiko Fujimori and Sagasti is to hand over the presidency to whoever wins on June 6.

Gonzales claimed Sagasti needed to be dismissed for his allegedly deficient handling of the fight against covid-19, which, so went the accusation, “affects the fundamental rights of the population by maintaining a democratic coldness in the face of serious problems that put people's lives and health at risk.”

He maintained that the president “conceals acts of corruption and crimes against the public administration” due to the irregular vaccination of former President Martín Vizcarra and dozens of officials, with doses in the trial process of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine.

Sagasti took office last November, when then-president Martín Vizcarra was vacated (dismissed), for having secretly received the Sinopharm vaccine test as well as his wife and a brother, for which, in addition, he was later banned from public offices for 10 years.

Vizcarra was replaced by the conservative head of Congress, Manuel Merino, who days later resigned due to large protests against him and had to pass the baton onto Sagasti.

Most legislators who voted not to impeach Sagasti based their decisions on the little time the president has left to serve and the consequences that a change of government might bring upon the nation for such a short spell until July 28.